Articles written by Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA)—As the Burning Bush crackles, God is heard. “Mow-zes,” God says in the mysterious mid-Atlantic accent that Hollywood once trained its actors to use—the one Anne Baxter as Nefertiti used to summon Charlton Heston’s Moses in...

Not long ago Yahel Epel, a volunteer with the Israeli American Council, fulfilled her assigned mission: She assembled 200 Jews, half of them Israeli American, in a room in Denver on a Friday evening for a potluck dinner and a Shishi Yisraeli...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—What is MBS? Why did Lebanon’s prime minister resign, and why in Saudi Arabia? What’s Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas doing in Saudi Arabia? Where is Jared Kushner in all this? And what does it all mean for...

WASHINGTON (JTA)-On May 2, Israel's Independence Day, Texas state Rep. Phil King stood smiling as Gov. Greg Abbott signed King's bill banning the state from doing business with boycotters of Israel....

WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Supreme Court is back in session with a full bench of nine justices, so expect more momentous decisions after nearly a year of caution. Now that the high court is back to its previous equilibrium—four solid liberals, four...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—A tweet by President Donald Trump on Friday night, with Houston recovering from Hurricane Harvey and his sister Irma set to ravage Florida, is renewing hope among Jewish groups that have long advocated for emergency assistance to...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—In an unusual statement, President Donald Trump called his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, “very pro-Israel,” an apparent bid to end a barrage of attacks from the far right that has depicted McMaster as hostile to...

WASHINGTON (JTA)-Campaigning last year for the presidency, Donald Trump said the Iran nuclear agreement was the "worst deal" he had ever seen. It was never exactly clear, however, what he intended to...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Alan Gross contacted me a couple of months ago over Facebook Messenger. There was something he thought I should know. I was pleasantly surprised. I’d only exchanged pleasantries with Gross in the several times I’d seen him...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Carmel Shama HaCohen, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, is second to none in his admiration for the Trump administration’s United Nations envoy, Nikki Haley. In fact, he’d like to clone her. Shama HaCohen appreciated Haley’s...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—It’s not quite schadenfreude, but some Jewish organizational officials are sighing in relief at President Donald Trump’s cascade of domestic woes, saying it may present opportunities for their relatively liberal agenda....

WASHINGTON (JTA)-President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would help bring about the defeat of the Islamic State terrorist...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Donald Trump said his first overseas trip as president would be to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Vatican—a triad that signals his plan to join the three Abrahamic faiths in the fight against terrorism. Trump’s...

WASHINGTON (JTA)-President Donald Trump got the memo on the Holocaust and the Jews. In a barrage of statements this week from the president and his aides, the Trump administration wants you to know,...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Iran is not living up to the “spirit” of the nuclear deal, President Donald Trump said, the latest in a flurry of mixed messages on the deal his administration has relayed in recent days. “As far as Iran is concerned, I...